Inmate Attack of Two Correctional Officers at San Quentin Under Investigation

August 30, 2012

SAN QUENTIN – Condemned inmate Timothy Joseph McGhee, 39, attacked two correctional officers at San Quentin State Prison with an inmate-made weapon early today as they attempted to return him from the shower to his cell.

The two officers suffered cuts and wounds to their heads, necks and arms. They were taken to an outside hospital for treatment. Their prognosis is good.

Investigators at the prison have launched a probe into the attack that occurred just before 7 a.m. when the officers opened the shower door in the prison’s Adjustment Center. The inmate slashed and stabbed them with the weapon.

The Adjustment Center is one of three units in the prison where male inmates on California’s death row are housed.

McGhee was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on January 9, 2009. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the gang-related killing of Ronald Martin on October 14, 1997; the June 3, 2000, killing of 16-year-old Ryan Gonzalez; and the November 9, 2001, killing of 26-year-old Margie Mendoza. Jurors also found McGhee guilty of the attempted murder of four other people, including two Los Angeles Police Department officers. He has been on California’s death row since January 21, 2009.

There are 728 people on death row in California.

San Quentin, opened in 1852, is California’s oldest and best-known correctional institution. The prison houses 3,690 inmates and employs 1,644 people.